A new theme for next year’s Met Gala exhibit was announced Thursday, two months after event organizers scrapped their original idea to honor British designer John Galliano following backlash over his past anti-Jewish and anti-Asian remarks.The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, which hosts the annual star-studded event commonly known as fashion’s biggest night, said the replacement exhibit will examine how fashion designers transform conventional objects and everyday clothing to create new garments.“From jeans, T-shirts, and puffer coats to paper, plastic, and metal, the exhibition will reveal how the seemingly unremarkable can inspire delight, surprise, and wonder,” the museum said in a press release Thursday.“The exhibition will examine how craft, construction, material experimentation, and conceptual wit give these ordinary forms extraordinary possibilities.”Titled “extraORDINARY: Fashion and the Poetics of the Everyday,” the exhibit is being assembled by the Met’s Costume Institute, which curates the exhibit and theme of the Met Gala, an annual fundraiser for the institute.The exhibit’s theme typically determines the dress code for the Met Gala, which traditionally falls on the first Monday in May.Joshua Henry performs during the 2026 Met Gala in New York City.Dia Dipasupil / Getty for The Met MuseumAndrew Bolton, head curator at the Costume Institute, spoke to The Associated Press this week about the challenges he faced coming up with a new idea following the cancellation of the Galliano show.“I had no Plan B, to be honest,” Bolton said.
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